Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Wednesday...Top Chef Night

Hung has some real chops. Joey is getting on my nerves bigtime. If he mentions that he's from New York one more time I am going to write to Cafe des Artistes, where Mrs DBK and I have had some lovely meals, including a memorable cassolet that I am sure was not made by Paulino unless he was there six years ago, and ask that they get a chef who isn't so obnoxious. I think the show gets so many genuinely qualified executive chefs because they think the publicity would be good for their restaurants, but Paulino is working the opposite way because I would never eat at CdA again if he's there after watching what an asshole he is.

And I was thinking, because of the big-talk arrogance, that I wouldn't like Hung at all, but he's helping the other chefs as he competes against them (he pulled another chef's pan off the flame when it looked like it was burning) and he can back up his big talk with big cooking. I like that guy.

Howie really ought to go. Forget the frogs legs thing. Any cook, professional or otherwise, knows you can't do pork medallions that early and not have them come out like leather.

Also, I was disappointed that nobody used the mesquite and smoked something, low and slow. From the moment they hit the market I was telling Mrs DBK that they should get a Boston Butt and smoke it. If you have two hours for cooking time, you can do a Boston butt (but four hours is better) and the connective tissues get all soft and the smoky mesquite flavor permeates it and, yum. I've smoked many a butt. My plan, because I tried to think what I would do if I were there, was a smoked Boston Butt with a peach barbecure sauce (Tre had one for salmon, but mine would have been a lot barbecuier than his glaze) rolled in spring rolls or maybe won ton skins wrapped as beggar's purses. Perfect, easy to eat with your fingers appetizers. Serve them on a bed of something, like mandarin orange and veg combo (acid to cleanse the pork fat) and you're cooking. I already decided I was going to have to have people over and make that.